Partners
by Flowerbudd
Summary: Elliot's divorce is finalized, and he's getting grumpier and grumpier, Liv has to try to set aside her secret feelings for him and be supportive, dreading the day he starts to date women. Little does she know the real reason he's so down.
1. Chapter 1

"El.." Olivia leaned against the lockers watching her partner lift weights angrily. "You're going to hurt yourself lifting like that."

Elliot didn't respond, just lifted faster.

"Damnit Elliot!" Olivia slammed her hand into a locker. "Seriously, talk to me".

Elliot Stabler set the weight on it's hook, before swinging himself to a sitting position on the weight bench. Olivia crossed to the chair and tossed him the towel he had set there, which he caught and wiped his face.

"What?" he asked her with a short voice.

"You know what Elliot, you haven't spoken all day, just snorted and pawed like a damn bull, the problem.. the problem is that I, and noone else in this place knows what!" she said with a sigh of exasperation.

Elliot looked up at his partner, she really was beautiful. What made her even more attractive was that, while she was confident, she didn't realize how breathtaking she was. She was so simple and easy to get along with, there was no fuss and frills to Liv. Elliot admired her a great deal. Too much, and that was his problem lately. Now that his divorce was final, and he could be dating, he found that the only woman he thought of was his partner… his off-limits partner.

Needless to say, meeting up with her semi-boyfriend when they had stopped for lunch today had not put him in a very great mood, especially when he had to watch them sit together and the bastard run his hands all over her. Elliot had sat with his fists clenched under the table the entire time.

There was no way he was going to tell his partner what the problem was. Number one, you aren't allowed to date your partner, and number two he had a pretty good feeling that Olivia did not feel the same way about him.

She watched her partner lost in thought, literally fighting with them. She knew he was having a rough patch, with his divorce being finalized last week, and she wanted to be there for him, because he was always there for her, whether he intended to be or not. Elliot Stabler was probably the most important person in her life, and she hated that she couldn't make him feel better when he was down. He always could tease a smile out of her, and make her feel better.

She stepped over to where he sat on the bench and sat down next to him. Their thighs pressed against each other, and she felt her heart skip a beat for a minute. Ridiculous, she scolded herself. As far as Elliot was concerned, she was like a little sister. She needed to get over this crush she harboured for her partner. Lately though, since his divorce she had been having more trouble, and she knew it was because it was just a matter of time before he started to date and she knew it would tear her up to see him with women. She had thrown herself into dating to try to get her mind off of it.

"Hey", she said softly as she punched him lightly in the shoulder, trying not to notice how hard his arm was, and that he wasn't wearing a shirt.. trying to be a friend.. which is what he needed right now.

He looked at her, and smiled. "It's nothing Livvie, just .. well you know."

"Yeah, the divorce?" she said sadly. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her. God she felt so good in his arms, he thought to himself.

Finn opened the door to the locker room and stuck his head in, " Yo… lovebirds, we gotta get to the sub station, there's been a rape murder." And popped back out. Olivia jumped off the bench, blushing, embarrassed that Finn had said that and Elliot was probably repulsed. She failed to notice the blush he carried on his own face as he pulled his shirt back on and stood up, ready to fight crime.


	2. Chapter 2

They were coming back to the precinct from the sub station, it was very late, about one a.m. They had caught the guy and gotten the victim to the hospital, and she going to be okay. Everyone was exhausted, but it was a successful catch, so it was a good tired. Elliot and Olivia were in their car, driving through the quieted streets of the city.

"Sorry you missed your date with what's his face." He said suddenly, breaking the silence. Olivia startled, El hadn't said much to her all night. " That was random." She said. "His name's Tim." She informed him after a second.

"Tim, Tom.. Steve, Rick.. whatever." He grumbled.

"What are you saying Elliot? That I see a lot of men?" Olivia started to get angry and turned to look at her partner, who was clutching the steering wheel and staring moodily at the road in front of him.

He refused to turn to look at her. "Answer me damnit." She demanded, thoroughly pissed off. Elliot really knew how to pout. All night she had been ignored by him, and now all a sudden he was basically saying she a slut? She put her hand on his arm, to get his attention.

Elliot shook her hand off, he was disgusted at himself for starting a fight with her, and for being so angry about her dating. Realizing that probably made him look mad at her, he softened his expression and turned a sideways glance at her, with a half smile. "Sorry Liv, I'm just tired."

She relaxed, he was tired, and he had been through a lot lately. Not seeing his kids everyday had to be murder for him. "I know El, it's ok." She laughed, "besides I do pick some real winners don't I?"

They chuckled together, the men Olivia dated were pretty funny. Most of the guys she dated were male bimbos. Elliot teased her a lot about what a man-nizer she was.

"You said it, not me." He said. She play punched him in the arm. "Well I can't wait to see what you bring around." Oops she thought to herself, probably wasn't the time to bring that up.

Elliot made a frown. " I don't think I'll be dating for awhile yet, but when I do I highly doubt I could find any women to half way compare to the men you bring around."

She realized he was still joking and thanked God silently. The last thing she needed was to say something that would upset him again.

Elliot knew she'd never be interested in him, after seeing what she liked to date. He wasn't a model, or a ken doll. She didn't seem interested in getting serious with anyone. He stopped for a second, shocked when he realized that depressed him, because he wanted to be serious with her. He had never really allowed himself to think that, and now here he was in the middle of the night, with his partner in the car, and he wanted more.

"You know I'm always here for you, don't you El?" she broke into his thoughts.

"I know Olivia, I know." He smiled at her, and she felt her heart skip a beat. She wanted to be there for him in so many ways, she blushed thinking about if he could read her thoughts, he'd think she had lost her mind.

They pulled into their parking space, and exited the car. Walking side by side, without touching, they headed into the precinct to start the long arduous paperwork. He brought her a coffee automatically, with exactly the right amount of cream and sugar, before they settled down to get busy. Working side by side, they went over the evening, working like a well oiled machine, doing their job. They finally finished around three a.m, and Elliot realized how early in the morning it was.

"You can crash here at the crib with me, or I'll take you home, but you are not going alone." He told her when she stood up and started to stretch.

"Elliot… I happen to be a member of New York City's Finest, I'm a cop!" she exclaimed.

He gave her that look, his Elliot give me a break Olivia, and drop it look. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. He was so damn hot when he was bossy. Hmm she thought to herself, a little giddy from lack of sleep… go home.. sleep in the crib with Elliot… tick tock, tick tock.

"Fine," she said with a mock sigh of exasperation. "I'll sleep with you in the crib."

She could have sworn he blushed, before he raised an eyebrow and leered at her, "You'll sleep with me?" He rubbed his hands together.

"Oh yeah baby, too bad you couldn't handle me." She flirted back jokingly.

He made a step towards her, and she squealed and ran into the locker room to get her spare t-shirt and pj bottoms, slamming the door shut and locking it. They often played around late at night like this, but somehow it felt a little different this time. Elliot had been looking at her in a way she hadn't seen him look at her before.

She took a few minutes getting ready for bed, brushed her teeth, and calmed herself down. Then she unlocked the door and headed into the crib. Elliot was laying on one bunk, the other one next to him empty. He had his hands behind his head, and was staring at the ceiling. He had taken off his shirt, and was just wearing a pair of cut off sweat pants, and Liv had to force herself not to stare.

She settled down on the bunk, and turned on her side away from him, and about five minutes later, when she thought he had fallen asleep, she heard him murmur to her, " you have no idea how well I would handle you."

She started, and rolled over to stare at him, in amazement, but his eyes were closed and he was pretending to be asleep. She wasn't sure how the context of what he had said was to be taken, so she rolled back over and fought herself to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia sipped her coffee and typed out her reports. She glanced every now and then across the desks at her partner. Since she had woken up this morning, everything had seemed different.

She had heard him last night, and it put everything in a new light. All of a sudden she was analyzing every single look he sent her way, every word. Was Elliot attracted to her? The idea had never crossed her mind before.

Worse, she kept thinking about rebounding. What if he just needed any available female right now? He hadn't dated since his wife and him had divorced, and they had been high school sweethearts. His emotions, and his libido was probably raging. Olivia wanted nothing to do with ruining their partnership and easy friendship over something so trivial.

She pushed back her chair and stood up. "See ya El." She said quickly as she slung her purse over her shoulder.

Elliot looked up surprised. "You're going?" He liked quiet afternoons spent working with Liv in the precinct. He thought better when she was nearby.

"Yep. Time to get a real shower and some shut eye in my own bed." She said briskly, refusing to make eye contact with him.

He watched as she turned and headed out the door. What was that all about? She had been acting squirrelly all day. He had asked her to go grab some breakfast with him, she had refused. She had refused to meet his eyes all day, even when he practically stared her down across the desk, and now she was taking off like a bat out of hell. Had he done something wrong?

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before turning his attention back to the reports in front of him. He would call her in a few hours and see if she was any better after sleeping. He had heard her toss and turn all night, so maybe she was just as sleep deprived as he was. His was because he couldn't sleep being so close to her. He had fought himself all night about going over to her.

Olivia kicked off her shoes, and set her bag down. Finally she was alone. Being so close to Elliot was driving her crazy today. Part of her didn't care why Elliot had said what he said, she just wanted him. And the sane rational Olivia was waging a war against that idea in her brain, giving her a headache. How could you go from being pals, to having a crush but being able to control it and still be pals, to boom all of a sudden not being able to breathe near him, or eat. Each time she had felt him looking at her she had felt herself blush, gotten goosebumps and been unable to catch her breath. She'd probably quit breathing for good if he ever did actually touch her.

She shook her head. She HAD to stop thinking about him touching her. It wasn't going to happen. He'd regret it later on, she knew he didn't feel that way about her. It was just the sex deprived male talking. Maybe she'd take a vacation day or two tomorrow, and let the air clear some.


	4. Chapter 4

Olivia woke up and rolled over in her bed. She was tangled in the sheets, and it reminded her of her restless night last night. She had tossed and turned all night thinking about Elliot being behind her door, sleeping on her couch. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to stand all this much longer. She decided to grab a shower before he woke up, and she wrapped her robe around her before sneaking out past the couch, where he was sprawled out sleeping, to the bathroom. Once inside, she turned the water to as hot as she could take, and stepped under the cleansing spray. Deciding she better take care of things before she ended up jumping her partner, she unhooked her shower spray from the holder and leaned against the shower wall, spraying it on herself and pretending it was his lips instead. Her head rolled back as she fantasized about him, and she helped herself into a satisfying, but lonely orgasm.

Outside the bathroom door, Elliot listened to his partner, obviously in the throes of an orgasm. He had woken up when she had tiptoed past him, but pretended to sleep. Listening to her, his body was alert and aching to be the one making her make those delicious moans that were driving him crazy. He argued with himself for a few minutes while he listened, trying to get up the nerve to just walk in there and take over. Finally, he mustered the courage and put his hand on the doorknob. It didn't turn. Dejected, he headed back the couch, gathered his jacket and shoes, and decided to take a brisk walk in the cool city air to cool his jets. Because as it was, if he waited there one more minute, he was afraid he'd bust the door down and take her in the shower.


	5. Chapter 5

Liv walked into the station, and spotted Elliot at his desk immediately. He had been gone when she came out of the shower, and she had been surprised he hadn't told her was going. She had gotten ready and headed in, hoping he'd be there.

"Hey." She told him as she sat down.

He looked up at her, and she almost swore he blushed. "Oh, Hey." He replied.

"You were gone this morning, pretty fast." She cursed to herself as she saw Munch look up and glance at them, he had heard her, and was probably deriving the wrong idea. "I mean from the couch, I figured when you needed a place to crash last night, you would probably be on the couch still."

Elliot looked at her funny. John tipped an imaginary hat at her before looking back down at his computer.

"I had to get some stuff done." Elliot mumbled finally.

"Oh."

"Do you want some coffee?" she asked him, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.

He lifted his mug up, fresh coffee steam coming out. Before bending his head down and typing furiously. He was acting very strange. Barely looking at her. Not talking. Not the normal Elliot she knew so well.

Shrugging, she pulled out some files she needed to finish up, getting to work.

Once Olivia was typing away like a demon, Elliot chanced to look at her. Her head was bent over, and the curve in her neck excited him. Hair was falling around her face, and she had the tip of her tongue between her lips as she concentrated. He heard her from this morning in his head. There was no way he was going to forget that for a long time.

He looked away, determined to get some work done and stop thinking all these wicked thoughts about her. If the nuns could read his mind now, he'd really get the ruler.

"So, you need a place to crash for a while? My couch is yours." She told him with a smile.

He looked up and met her eyes, "I dunno yet, But thanks."

Her face fell, like she was disappointed. He searched her eyes, sending her a piercing look. Color rose to her face, and he noticed she looked nervous. "Liv?" he asked her, his voice husky.

"El?" she said, whispering. What was going on, if it was anyone but Olivia, he'd swear she was flirting, coming on, giving off that vibe women give off when they want you. But Olivia? "I think I do need that place." He told her finally. She smiled. They shared a look for a minute longer before she finally broke away and looked back at her computer screen. Elliot wondered what time it was, he was going to work up the courage to see if he was reading her correctly.. tonight. No Locked bathroom doors.


End file.
